Editorial
To find our opinion based editorials, see below. We'll share opinion based editorial articles regularly for interested viewers.
Wrangler ponders the Fork in the Road
My son (let’s call him Wrangler to keep him safe from the Not-Really-a-Department of Government Efficiency) works …
Dealing with a personality disorder
Sometimes we run into people who have mental health problems that are difficult for family members or society to deal with. Narcissistic Personality Disorder i…
Sleep well, princes of fame and fate
Wyman McDonald remembers Ed Loder and Joe McDonald.
Can commissioners choose cooperation over conflict?
The Lake County Commissioners appear bent on reopening old controversies and unsettling settled law, judging by recent missives they’ve sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (March 1) and President Joe B…
Don't rush wrong Farm Bill
Recently, I joined other National Farmers Union leaders in meetings with the House Ag and Senate Ag committees about each of their versions of the 2024 Farm Bill. Based on those discussions, a tight timeline, and t…
Not my problem
Governor Greg Gianforte finally responded to Lake County’s formal decision to pull out of Public Law 280 with a letter that could be paraphrased as “Not my pro…
The Climate Conversation: Focus on the climate, not the cold
I was sitting next to the woodstove last week as the temperature plunged and the sideways snow squalled outside my window. I couldn’t help but remember 1978 when I took a job as a timber feller for Champion Interna…
Sometimes we all need a hand
Last Thursday, I walked to work in a snowstorm. I walked home in a blizzard.
New Year brings lower taxes to Montanans
There’s no way Republican legislators would rather ring in a new year than with lower taxes, and that’s exactly what we’ve done to kick off 2024.
Miss Minnie, Zip, and the long way home
Miss Minnie, in her younger years, was an indefatigable ball-fetcher, a lake swimmer and sleek runner. She looked like a 1940s movie star, with gold eyes, one …
Kindness. Pass it on
The Mission Valley was circled by smoke Sunday, and I spent the afternoon following fires from Round Butte to Moiese and back to Ronan.
Lake level points to another inconvenient truth
“Uncharted territory.” “The new norm.” Those were the headlines as the Earth experienced its hottest week ever recorded, in the wake of the warmest June on rec…
Polson School Bonds: I vote yes …
On page 5, readers will hopefully notice and be inspired by the assembly of Polsonites who are voting for the Polson School District’s two bond issues.
Hertz: Not playing fair in the sandbox
More alarming is Polson Senator Greg Hertz’s bill, passed last week by the Senate, that would require the two candidates who receive the most votes in primary elections for U.S. Senate to advance to the general ele…
A legacy of pickles, pies and pluck
The last time I saw Aunt Thelma, on the day before she died, she was sitting in her hospital bed at St. Joe’s, balancing her checkbook. A grandson was dispatch…